Acute Care Physical Therapy Literature: 2024 Year in Review

Purpose: The science that should inform the practice of physical therapists in the acute hospital is rapidly evolving. To ensure clinicians can deliver the most current and effective treatments they must have access to scientific literature. Access refers to the design of products, services, and information for use by relevant populations, to the greatest extent possible. Clinicians often cannot access scientific literature for various reasons. The purpose of this article was to highlight selected acute care physical therapy literature published in 2024 in an accessible form for all members of the acute care physical therapy community. Methods: In this perspective report, peer-reviewed publications relevant to acute care physical therapy from the year 2024 were identified and reviewed. Articles were selected based on relevance to today's health care environment, hot topics, and the anticipated future of acute care physical therapy. Results: Articles were grouped into (1) clinical practice including differential diagnoses and treatment dosage, (2) patient care related to social determinants of health, (3) physical therapy operations, and (4) entry level Doctor of Physical Therapy didactic and clinical education. Following the summary of each topic's articles, clinical relevance and future directions are discussed. Conclusions: The authors' perspective of acute care physical therapy research from 2024 was that it provided an overview of current, clinically relevant topics that are useful to a variety acute care clinicians and educators. This review was presented at the 2025 Combined Sections Meeting.